night cloud
by These Heroes We Shall Remember
Summary: The was a time when mages traveled the world. now, one guild travels freely across the word. The gypsie mages they've been called, but what is the true reason for their travels. Follow the Night cloud guild through their lives and find out. Ocs needed.
1. The truth of the matter

**Prologue**

_Once, long before guilds became the norm, mages would travel the land, helping people where ever they roamed..._

_But eventually, people started to find it easier to stay in one place, so people knew where to find them. The downside of this was that sometimes, the guilds couldn't get to the towns in danger before it was destroyed..._

_But eventually, all the mages had settled into guilds. People didn't connect this to the rise in demon population, or the fact that suddenly it was dangerous to travel without escort._

_All except for one person. While the mages of the land were settling in city's and towns, Alice Skyfern had been aprenticed to a powerful Mage named Gemma Edelye, who was charged by her master before her, who was charged by hers, going all the way back to before zerefs time, to power and maintain their share of the seals that held back the creations of zeref, among other things._

_As Gemma grew older, she and Alice settled in a guild, though they still went to each of their 12 seals each year. As Gemma got older, Alice used her wood make magic to make a caravan for the old woman, so she could travel in comfort. When Alice was 30 Gemma died, leaving the job of looking after the seals in her hands._

_After a few years she noticed that some of the others seals, that others were responsible for had broken. The old masters were passing before they were able to pass on the knowledge. On that day Alice made a decision. In the forest outside the city of Kumoa she used wood make to construct a building. It to her months, and expanded her magic reserves to masive amounts. The building was a normal guild building, but with a large stable and fenced off area. There was also a few small houses dotted around the clearing. But most importantly for her plans, wer the 12 caravans each big enough for six people to live in as well as an escort._

_She then sent out messages to the last of the masters and, if they had them, apprentices, as well as the last of the traveling mages, who had taken to performing shows, just so they could be free and survive outside of the cramped guilds._

_And that was how the night cloud guild was born._

_So the years passed, and the guild gained fame for their talents as traveling performers as much as their magic, giving them a perfect cover for why they were always traveling._

_The guild had a peculiar system. The guilds year went like this. They would have one month in which they had their s class exams, followed by the selection of the 12 teams. These were teams of five that each took a caravan equipped with a lacriama to communicate with the guild, so they could take missions in the area the seal they looked after was in, because that was the main purpose of them. Each team had a cook, a medic, a close combat fighter, a long range fighter and a caravan master, who acted as the guild master of the caravan and drove, as well as looked after the horses._

_Horses was another way the guild got income apart from performing and doing missions. They bred strong, but beautiful horses for pulling their caravans, as well as riding._

_Each caravan went out for five months then came back for one month to trade news. Then new teams would be chosen and be gone for five months until s class exams came round again._

_Those who remained at the guild trained their magic, but also their skills in performing and ability to fill the positions in the caravans. They did some missions, but a lot of them were parents and children who lived around the guild hall, as well as the mages who were turned down from the teams and the elderly. Then, of course there was the guild master._

_Nia Seablade was Alice's granddaughter and the third guild master, with Nia's mother Willow being the second. Alice had made the guild, Willow had made it a family and Nia was it's current matriarch. Her own daughter had been next in line, but she had died giving birth to her youngest granddaughter Finnel, whose father had basically abandoned her, and with his skill, she couldn't logically deny his request to be permenantly on the caravan rotation._

_Finnel would be next in line, but had been unable to learn the family's wood make style, instead learning her grandfathers wind magic._

_Instead Nia's other daughter, Maria, was to be the next guild master, with her eldest daughter after her._

_This was the state of the guild when our main character found the Fire Storm Caravan performing in port Skydale._

* * *

A.n. sorry, but I only got a few characters, and that was with one person submitting two.

I still need a main character, but at the moment this is the state of the caravan.

**Fire Storm Caravan**

Caravan leader: Finnel Asha Falsia, 19, wind magic, horse stunts

Medic: Tanaka "Maki" Takashi, 18, Neverwind, fortune teller

Close combat: Ken Hitoshi, 18, Military magic, knife juggler and strong man routine with Riely

Long range: Aria Swan, 26, fire/transformation, singer

Cook: Riely Vaughan, 20, Earth magic, works with Ken

Probationary member (not yet a true guild member, but part of the caravan): none

Escorted person: none

Horses: Max, Silver, Yew, Votive

Need more people please!

Current template is:

Name: (Please at least have a last name)Hair:Eyes:Skin:Clothes:Hobbies:Personality:Hi story: (Please make it readable)Weapons/Magic:Place in team: (list 3 from most wanted to wouldn't mind)

Caravan: (top five please!)

Act/performance: (please list two)

Other caravans are:

wirlpool

natures gift

ligtnig bolt

gold bell

chess board

times treasure

paper back

icey tears

golden morning

moons path

starry skies

The other caravans will definitely be included, and may be flashed to on occasion. Please help this story grow! - Heroes


	2. So? Will you join us?

**Chapter one- so? Will you join us?**

Amber Blackthorn sat on the beach of port Skydale, knees curled up to he chest, stareing at the water. "I am a good Mage." The 12 year old whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.

She looked at the puddle of water next to her and held out her hand. The water rose at her will and twisted into the shape of a mirror. In the centre a image of a guild hall appeared.

There was a man sitting on a table, laughing with the people around him. "Did you see here face! 'Can I please join your guild?'! Ha!" He laughed.

"As if we'ed take in a little freak like her!"

The people around him laughed and Amber let the water mirror smash on the ground.

Amber was a water mage. She was one teir down from a water elemental like Juvia, so she couldn't turn herself into water, instead she had a secondary seers ability. She couldn't see the past, but the present was easy as pie. The future was inaccurate and shoddy, as she could only see possibilities.

She had seen people coming to kill her parents and had tried to warn them, but she had been ignored, and her parents had paid with their lives. She had told an old lady she was going to die of a heart attack, but she had been laughed off by everyone. When it had happened, they weren't laughing anymore.

The guild had been her last hope. Talking to her was seen as an omen of death for the most part, and she had used her magic to survive, using whips of water to grab things and protect her from angry mobs. Now she had no where to go, except away form town.

Amber sighed and pushed her self up, her pony tail swinging behind her. She started up the side streets of the port, knowing that the main roads wouldn't be good for her health.

Then she heard the music. It was a woman singing an old song that her parent had taught her.

"When night is dark and hope is lost,  
When victory comes at to high a cost,  
You'll see a sign you'll win the day,  
And soon the darkness will go away."

Amber made her way to the market, where she saw a strange sight. There was a woman standing in font of a large Woden caravan that was highly decorated. A sign on the side offered fortune telling for 10 jewles and remedies for 100 jewles.

Then she spotted the symbol on the singers arm. It was a red cloud woth a cut out crescent moon in the centre. "Night Cloud!" Gasped the girl.

Everyone had heard of Night Cloud. 'The gypsie guild' who made as much money performing as they did doing missions. But most importantly they traveled all over Fiore, meaning that she could leave this town for good.

She didn't want to stop the performance so she looked around for other members of the guild.

The only people apart from the blond singing were a pair of guys, one with a blue bandana and a steel grey mark on his arm, and another with short brown hair and a brown mark on his left hand.

She also saw a group of four horses, silver, black, brown and cream. As she looked towards them she noticed someone else. There was a girl who looked about 19, wearing all white, with two long green pig tails hanging down her back. As she turned around, Amber saw she had a white mark on the back of her neck, though for some reason, her moon was filled in with silver.

Suddenly she turned and looked straight in Amber's eyes, green meeting silver. Amber looked at her options. 'If I've got a chance,' she thought, taking a step forward. 'I'll go for it!'

"Hello," she said, fiddling with her tattered skirt. "Um, my name is Amber Balckthorn, and I was wondering if I could join your guild."

The green haired woman looked at her, and amber noticed a charm bracelet in her hand chink as she moved.

"I'm Finnel Asha Falsia, and I'm the current leader of the Fire Storm Caravan of Night Cloud. What is your magical talent?" She announced.

Shaking with nerves now, Amber stuttered out, "I-I'm a water Mage. Though I also have some seer talent."

That caught Finnel's attention. "Really? That's a rare talent!"

Amber smiled and nodded.

"Well, I suppose there is no reason not to let you in..." Said Finnel, "and we do have a probationary member spot in the caravan..."

"So I'm a member!" Cried Amber in joy.

"No." Said Finnel, causing Amber to shatter on the inside.

"B-but why not?" Croaked Amber.

"Only the guild master can make you a full member of the guild. But I can make you a member of the caravan, then once we've finished our season on the road, we'll all go back to the guild, receive proof that you've done the Fire Storm run, and you can become a member." Finnel said, smiling encouragingly.

"Really!" Squeaked Amber.

"Of course that means you'll have to be taught a lot on the road, both magically and skill wise, not to mention the history and guild lore that will be pounded into you like an over stuffed turkey..." Suddenly Finnel was cut off by a sobbing twelve year old talking her with a hug.

"I was so scared. I thought- I thought that I'd be alone for ever, that I wouldn't see my next birthday. Even the town guild threw me out on my face when I asked to join! I-I..." The girl just broke down sobbing.

Finnel soothed the child until she exausted herself. It only took about five minutes, showing just how exausted she was.

She picked up the girl, amazed at how light she was and walked up the caravan stairs. Inside there was a woman sitting a a desk, surrounded by objects, her face and hair covered by a veil, only her milky eyes visable.

"Maki-chan, pack every thing up. We're leaving town now!" Cried Finnel.

The other girl in the caravan nodded pulling the veil off her head, revealing messy blue hair. As Maki started to pack everything away, Finnel placed Amber in one of the beds in the caravan.

Stroking the girls hair, she smiled softly. She then turned around and stormed out of the caravan.

"Riely, Ken." She said, drawing the attention of the only men in the group, "get Max and Votive hooked up to the caravan, you two are ridding. We have a probationary in need of some care, and this town won't give it." She turned to the last member, who had stopped sinning. "Aria, your on sky watch, I want to know if anything comes within fifty meters of us." The blond nodded and jumped onto the roof of the caravan, using her wind magic to lift her up.

As the boys harnessed the horses, Finnel went back inside the caravan to look for Maki.

The blue haired girl was going over Amber's body. "What do you see, Tanaka?" Asked Finnel.

The milky eyed girl looked back at her friend. "Her magic was working overtime to heal the damage, but that settled down after I gave her a potion. Are you going to contact the master?" She said, nodding to a communication lacriama disguised as a crystal ball.

"Later," said Finnel, "right now we just need to get out of town."

Tanaka "Maki" Takashi smiled and nodded. Going back to tending to Amber.

Suddenly there was a banging on the back door. Finnel opened it to see Maki's boy friend Ken Hitoshi.

"We' ready to go when you are commander?" Said the ex-solider.

"Get on Yew then! Pulling outin two minutes!" She cried, running around to the front of the caravan where the black Max and creamy Votive were harnessed in.

The two were part of the team of horses she had been given when she'd achieved the qualifications to be a caravan master. She had mastered the parts of three the team members and had been on each of the 12 caravan routes. Her bracelet held the proof with the 12 proof charms. each was a proof token that the carrier had been on the route. Hers were currently all silver, but when she had lead the caravan of that route it would become gold.

With Ken and Riely leading the way, she drove the caravan through the city, smuggling out its most hated member.

A.n: more... More characters! I Need them!


	3. Learning on the road

**Chapter 2- learning on the road**

Amber woke to the creak of axels turning under her, with a slight jostle now and then. She slowly opend her eyes to see a blue haired woman standing over her, milky, Cotten blue eyes meeting her now fully awake silver ones.

"Oh good! I was wondering when you would wake up!" the woman said, smiling brightly.

Amber tried to Witt up in the narrow bunk but was pushed down by the older girl. "Now don't you start that! I may not be as good as Iris but I still know some rope magic to tie you down with!" Lorded the girl.

Amber promptly stopped struggling and looked around. It was a small wooden room with six bed in it, three pairs of bunks and a few leached windows. There was a door at one end, and almost a hatch at the other. The only other item of furniture in the room was a chest, which looked to contain clothes.

"Where am I?" She asked the other person in the room.

"Your in the Fire Storm Caravan Amber. You collapsed after talking to Finnel so we skipped town to care for you. I'm the medic of the caravan Tanaka, but please call me Maki. Your magic looks like its recovered enough for you to move, so pick some clothes out of that chest and come out to get something to eat." She rambled, starting towards the door.

"You can see my magic?" Asked the girl, confused.

Tanaka looked back, a sad smile on her face. "I'm basically blind. I can barley see people, and objects are just an outline to me. The only thing I can see clearly is magic. I can even see the types of magic they would be best at, and what they are currently using! You are perfectly suited to water and seer magic Amber, never doubt that." Her smile then brightend. "Come on, get dressed! Riely is cooking chocolate chip pancakes. Mmm... Pancakes..."

Her eyes went glassy and she literally floated out of the room...

'Okay...' Though Amber, as she just stared at where Tanaka had vanished.

Snapping out of it she shakily got out of bed and made here way over to the clothes chest. It was stuffed to the brim with all sorts of clothes and things. The twelve year old picked a blue hair band with little gold coins on it. She also chose a a blue Cotten dress that looked like the colours were running, but it was too big for her, so she tied it around the waist with a cord that matched her hair band.

Pulling her hair back into a pony tail, she looked around for shoes, but couldn't find anything in her size. Looking down at herself she sighed. Living on the streets had left her bony as a starved dog. Shaking her head she opened the door.

Finnel was sitting at a table with the woman who was singing yesterday and a man with the blue bandana, who was looking ata Tanaka and sighing. Tanaka on the other hand was hovering over the brown haired man, who was cooking pancakes. "Amber!" Cried Finnel, noticing her.

All the others looked at her and began sizing her up. The man cooking was the first to move. "Hi, I'm Riely, the cook. Now if you excuse me, someone forgot to get out the chocolate chips."

Riely moved towards Amber and lifted her down from the caravan. He closed the door and then pulled out the door nob.

Then he placed it next to a picture of a sleeping dragon, inserting it in, and pulled out a similar nob next to a picture of a king feasting and placed it in the door.

Then he opened it.

"Wha-?" Gasped Amber.

Gone was the bedroom and in its place was a massive store house, filled to the brim with all sorts of food. Riely walked in and quickly grabbed a bag of chocolate chips, Before walking out and replacing the handle again.

"Stop gawking and take a seat squirt!" Yelled the singer, causing Amber to jump.

She ran over tho the table and took a seat next to Finnel. "How?" Was all she could get out.

"When the guild was first formed, lots of dieing forms of magic were preserved in the members, and were use on the caravans. That is a form of re-equip magic that most people think is lost. There are four nobs, each re-furnishes the room as if nothing had ever changed." Finnel explained. Looking at the othe woman she added, "And don't worry about Aria. She may seem cold, but she's just shy."

"I'll give you shy!" Shouted Aria, reaching acrost the table for the caravan masters neck.

As the two grappled with each other, the last member of the caravan introduced himself. "I'm Ken Hitoshi, Maki chan's boyfriend." Smiled the bandana wearing man. "I work as the close combat specialist using my millatary style magic." He smiled evilly. "Which means I get to train you to up to guild standards in the- how many months do w have left on the road Fin?"  
A cry came from what was now a wirling dust ball "three!"  
"Thank you - three months we have left until we get back to the guild hall. Besides, it would be embarrassing to only have a silver charm and no bronze!" He laughed.

Then he noticed Amber's look of confusion. "Don't worry, you'll be ridding with Fin most of the time and she'll explain everything. She's the youngest caravan master ever! Been traveling since she was your age that one has, now shut up, food's here." And he promptly dived into a plate of pancakes.

XXXXX

After the stacks of plates were demolished, the caravan cleaned up in what looked like a well oiled routine, and slowly started along the road.

The men were riding two of the horses while Aria cloud watched on the roof and Takana Rested in the caravan after staying up all night looking after Amber.

Amber herself was next to Finnel in the drivers seat of the caravan, with two of the masive horses pulling them along the path. "Now," said Finnel. "You have to swear on your life that you will never tell an outsider any of he information I am about to tell you."

"Why?" Asked Amber, confused.

"I'll explain once you swear." Finnel said briskly.

"Just do it brat!" Called Aria from the roof.

"Fine! I swear on my life I won't reveal to an outsider what Finnel tells me!" Amber grumped.

"Good. Now about 150 years ago, guild started becoming more prominent and it became easier to learn magic for those of high class or in families. But orphans and the poor struggled, because they went undiscovered by masters, who passed on before taking aprentices."

"So people were just hireing tutors or books?" Asked Amber.

"That's right. But he masters also failed to pass on the locations of the seals of evil they were maintaining. Each seal bound a group of monsters, an artefact or a powerful demon. Eventually some of them broke, and the monsters started coming back to the land. My great-great grandmother Alice noticed this and bought the masters into a guild. But they were still growing old, so they adopted many orphans to learn their skills. They split the fourty eight seals that they were responsible for up, and made 12 caravan routes, each taking five months to complete.

"They were short of jewles, so they performed on street corners when they could, and collected herbs and wild food, we still do, and it's one of the things needed to qualify for a bronze pendent."

"Bronze pendent?" Asked Amber, struggling to take everything in.

"Later. Now. Eventually, everyone in the guild started to have family's, including Alice, but the seals still needed attending to, so they started to rotate people, so that there was always someone to care for the kids.

"It was decided that five was enough for a caravan and life carried on. When Alice handed the title of guild master down to her daughter, people started to worry about the strength of the caravans, and a new system was put in for all those under 15 at the time. Before you went on a route, you had to pass the criteria of the route. Things like the Icy Tears route, being able to survive in the mountains on your own for five days, or the Wirlpool route, being able to swim a kilometre. Safety things really..."

'I could do the swim because of my magic, but the rest of it!' Thought Amber.

"When you fufil the criteria of a route you gain a bronze pendant of that route. Complete a route and you get a silver, actually lead a route and you get a gold. You need two gold to qualify for the s class exams."

"So there a mages that could be s class that chose not to qualify?" Asked Amber

"Got it in one brat!" Cheerd Aria, peeking over the roof.

"Off the top of my head is Collete, because she really loves the Wirlpool route, and only Atained the other pendants so she could lead that route, Kaito, but he has cheating coy magic, so it doesn't really count, and Susan Benet, who stopped traveling to raise he daughter, but now she's qualified for the Paper Back route as a medic, Susan went to keep an eye on her. Apparently she had wanderlust for some time..."

"What's the qualification for the Paper Back route?" Asked Amber.

"Learn the dewy decimal system and know all the myths of zeref by heart. A source of income for them is assistant librarians and story tellers."

"At this rate I only qualify for Wirlpool." Groaned Amber.

"We'll, that is the most likely caravan for you to go on any way. They tend to place mages in their element. We go to hot, tropical places so we have a fire mage. It's hurricane season so we have some wind mages." Explained Finnel.

"And besides, what made you think that we wouldn't train you in that period." Aria Smirked Evilly, reminding Amber of Ken's expression at breakfast.

"Don't worry," Riely said, walking his horse, Silver, next to her.

"We all went through it too. though we are on a schedule, so your probably in for three months of pain. We get to our second seal in two days, and you need to know your part in the ritual when we get there."

A.N: pity her, my readers. For it will be a montage that rocky would cower at...

Thanks for all the great characters! Once a caravan is full, they'll be added to an omake roster. Any character submitted will be accepted, though I'm looking for some who were born in night cloud.

See ya soon

Heroes


	4. Finnel's past

**Chapter 3- Finnel's past**

It was the second day of her travels that Amber first saw another caravan.

They were heading east, off the roads and into the hills. Amber was in pain as a result of her new, nightly, training sessions. And now, through her pain, she was inside the caravan, learning about the uses of plants from Tanaka, who had finally convinced Amber to call her Maki.

"That's foxglove. It's good for heart conditions, but is poisonous in large doses." Recited Amber, trying to piece together her memories enough so she wouldn't kill herself in the woods.

"CARAVAN!" Shouted Aria over head, causing Amber to jump in her chair. Maki's head shot up, and she looked out the window. "Chess Board. Their the only ones who's territory even comes closes to ours." She sighed, "They probably ran out of medicine for Aislinn. They always did rely too much on Leon's healing magic."

"Healing magic!"shouted Amber. "Isn't that a lost magic!"

"What did Finnel tell you yesterday about the lost magics not being so lost after all!? And besides, it's no the true healing magic! that's almost like regeneration! Instead, he just speeds up the body's healing, while keeping the body stable."

Amber was still confused though. "So why doesn't he just heal... Ashlin was it?"

"Aislinn Amber, and he can't. Her disease is degenerative. If he speeds up the process she'll just die faster. The medicine reverses the progress slightly and stops it's progress for about a month, but unless we find a True healer, she, along with a few others in the guild, will have to live with things like this forever."

"Who?" Asked Amber.

The blind medic smiled. "You don't think I was born blind, do you?"

Amber was about to reply when she thought of something. "Hey! If you can't see, how can you make medicine and pick herbs!"

Maki blushed. "All plants have a slight amount of magic in them that explains their use, medicine, for me, is seeing the magic change, depending on what I need."

Amber saw red. "So you never had to memorise any plants, like I am now?" Whispered the 12 year old.

Maki nodded, only to be slapped in the face by a giant fan made out of water.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Finnel was worried. She knew she had to offer help, as was the code of the guild, but...

She couldn't bring herself to face the caravan master.

Her father.

"Aria." She said, letting her wind magic carry her voice to the girl in the air.

"Yes Finnel?" Asked Aria. The other Mage was flying using her transformation magic to grow wings. Her voice carried a worried tone, knowing of Finnel's relationship with her father.

"Fly over and find out what they want." The caravan master replied, her green hair blowing as the message back to the girl.

Immediately, the woman-bird flew towards the distant caravan.

Finnel's father was named Samson Falsia, and was one of the highest placed members of the guild. He was a qualified s-class Mage, and had gold level in all caravan roots.

He had married Finnel's mother when he was 25, and Finnel was born a few years later. It was her birth that killed her mother. He had never really been the same. On his request, the Mistress of the guild had reluctantly placed him in the Chess Board caravan, only coming off it when some one was going for their mastery of the route, traveling all but two months of the year, not even acknowledging he had a daughter, let alone raising her.

"Finnel!" Sang Aria, shaking Finnel out of her thoughts.

The girl looked almost bored. "They'd just run out of Aislinn's medicine again." She sighed, landing next to the 19 year old. "I kind of hoped it was something more exciting, like a broken seal or..."

She was silenced by Finnel's slap. "Never wish for a broken seal Aria. Especially in front of a survivor."

Aria looked ashamed, and went around the back of the halted caravan to get the medicine.

XXXXX

"Maki! Do you have a supply of monks hood for making Aislinn's medicine?" Said Aria as she burst into the room.

She froze, seeing Amber brooding in the corner and Maki, sporting a large bump on the head, holding out a bundle to her. "This should do them until they reach lark meadow, so they can gather more. Oh stop pouting Amber! Even Aria knows the basic herbs, and she's a fighter!"

Aria was about to leave when Amber asked a simple, chilling question.

"What's a survivor?"

Both of the true members slowly looked at her to see a puddle of water reflecting the face of a melancholy Finnel. "You were watching." Whispered Aria breathlessly.

"What do you mean?" Asked Maki sharply, looking at the paling Aria.

"I accidentally mentioned that I wished we had more excitement, like a breakage or something."

Wind whipped around Maki. "You bought up the Icy Tears incident in front of her!" She demanded.

"Icy Tears?" Asked Amber.

Maki sighed. "Another caravan, remember."

"So what incident?"

Maki looked at the little water Mage. "It will take a while to explain. Aria, take the medicine so we can get back on the road. I don't want Finnel any closer than necessary to her father."

Behind her, Aria nodded and fled the cabin.  
"What happened to Finnel?" Asked Amber

"You see Amber," said Maki, sitting on the floor next to the girl, "our guild doesn't keep the only records of the seals. They are part of folk law, myth and legend, and occasionally, someone believes them enough to search out the seal. Mostly dark guilds. The Icy Tears route use to have five seals. Now, it only has three. About fifty years ago, a caravan was completely wiped off the map when a dark guild released a beast named Crocus from it's seal. Among them was Roland Sparks' parents. He vowed revenge and fifteen years later. Defeated the monster in single combat over a three day period. By this stage he was s rank, and decided to specialise in the Icy Tears route." Maki sighed.

"Then, over six years ago, when Finnel was on her first caravan, another guild struck. They unleashed the demon Deliora onto the caravan. It ravaged the country for several years, until an ice Mage defeated it, but it devastated the caravan. The only reason Finnel is still alive is because Roland gave up his chance to defeat it there and then to save her. There have been a few other incidents, but she will remain the survivor." And with that the caravan started moving again...


End file.
